Since the feature pack came out last summer, I have been aware of the Project Allocation feature but have not had cause to use it. I had played around with it some, but really did not understand the capabilities relative to the Unit allocation method at the Cost Category basis. So, tonight I did some testing and I think I have it figured out (at least partially).
From what I can tell, both fields deal with timesheet cost categories. So, let's assume that I accumulate vacation time in an overhead project and I want to allocate the hours (and cost) to other projects based on their billable time (assuming that the more billable time there is, the more vacation there would be as well).
Considering this all came from testing (the documentation I could find was not particularly clear), please feel free to post comments, clarifications, and corrections :)
So, let's assume that I have the following setup:
- VAC is my vacation cost category for timesheets
- BILL is my billable cost category for timesheets
- MISC is my cost category for miscellaneous logs
- ALLOC is my miscellaneous ID
- OHPROJECT is my overhead project
- PROJECTA is one billable project
- PROJECTB is another billable project
I have posted timesheet transactions that result in the following actuals on the projects:
- OHPROJECT: 100 hours VAC for a total of $10000 in cost
- PROJECTA: 20 hrs BILL for a total of $2000 in cost
- PROJECTB: 30 hrs BILL for a total of $3000 in cost
I can set up my project allocations as follows:
From:
- Project: OHPROJECT
- Cost Category: VAC
- Misc ID: ALLOC
- Misc Log Cost Category: MISC
To:
- Project: PROJECTA
- Misc ID: ALLOC
- Misc Log Cost Category: MISC
- Cost Category Basis: BILL
Method: Unit
Then enter a second line with the following allocation...
From:
Project: OHPROJECT
Cost Category: VAC
Misc ID: ALLOC
Misc Log Cost Category: MISC
To:
Project: PROJECTB
Misc ID: ALLOC
Misc Log Cost Category: MISC
Cost Category Basis: BILL
Method: Unit
This allocation setup will result in the following allocations being created by taking the cost category basis and determining the portion of the whole. For example, the total quantity for the cost category basis for PROJECTA and PROJECTB is 50 hrs. So PROJECTA will get 40% of the allocation (20/50) and PROJECTB will get 60% of the allocation (30/50). As Mike Lupro pointed out, this will allocate the full amount in VAC on OHPROJECT to PROJECTA and PROJECT B.:
- Allocated to PROJECTA: $4000
- Allocated to PROJECTB: $6000
Well, there you go! Pretty nifty I think, and I could definitely see applying this in the future. Let me know what you think.
